Thoughts in a Hospital Room
by Delais Starlight
Summary: Naruto was unable to keep Sasuke from fleeing to Orochimaru. Five years later, Sasuke nearly kills Lee, and Sakura revises her opinion of the two of them. SakuLee. Epilogue is up. Vote for or request a new stroy
1. Chapter 1

Authors Notes 1) I don't own Naruto or its characters

2) Please review this story, as it is the first one I have written, feedback would greatly help me improve.

3) _Constructive _criticism is perfectly fine, compliments are also nice.

4) Thank you to my friend Alex for his help.

Thoughts in a Hospital Room

It was quiet. Even by the standards of hospital rooms, it was still quiet. The only noise came from the machines connected to the patient. There was the steady beep of the heart rate monitor as well as the continual hissing sound of respirator that was forcing air into the ninja's lungs, keeping him alive. The walls of the room were bare, as was the ceiling. The only hints of colour came from the single red rose which rested in a glass of water on the bedside table, and from the pink haired kunoichi who kept a vigil in the one chair in the room.

Haruno Sakura gazed at the man lying in the bed. It had been five years since Sasuke had fled to Orochimaru. Naruto had promised her, as she cried, that he would bring Sasuke back for her, but even he had failed. Now, five years later, he had indeed managed to return the Uchiha ninja to the village that he had fled from. However, looking at the remains of the one lying in the hospital bed, Sakura decided that it would be better if Sasuke had never returned.

The door to the room crept open and two figures stepped inside, quietly shutting it behind them. Looking at the new figures, Sakura managed a small smile to greet her teammate and the girl that he loved. "Hello Naruto, Hinata, what brings you here today?"

The blue-haired girl holding Naruto's hand answered quietly, although she did not stutter. While still shy, she had managed to gain some confidence over the years. "I came because both Naruto-kun and Neji ni-san say they respect and admire his determination," she spoke while glancing towards the one lying on the bed. "I may not know him well myself, but if both of them feel that way about him then, I am sure that he must indeed be a great person." She walked over to the bed and bent down to give the fallen warrior a kiss on the forehead. "I hope he wakes up and comes back to his friends soon."

Naruto fidgeted nervously. He was indeed more mature than he had been as a child, but he was still uncomfortable with both the quiet, and the seriousness of the situation. However, his worry for his friends easily won over his own feelings of awkwardness; and so here he was.

"How is he doing, Sakura-chan?"

"The doctors say that he has stabilized, and that he'll wake up at some point. After that they're going to need to wait and see how much movement he has before they can decide anything."

Naruto nodded grimly. He hadn't expected to hear anything better, but he had still hoped. "What about you, are you doing alright?"

"I don't know, Naruto. I'm so angry at myself. I spent all these years hoping that Sasuke would come back, and now that he has, I can't even bring myself to look at him. I hate him. I hate him, and I'll never forgive him for what he has done."

Naruto tried to think of something to add to that, but found nothing that would fit. Still, it was up to him to say something, so he grabbed the first phrase that came to mind. "I can't believe that he would actually try to kill you." As soon as the words left his mouth he grimaced. _'Oh that's just great man, way to pick the worst possible thing to say.'_

Tears began to well up in the corners of Sakura's eyes. "No one did. When we heard he was in the area again, Tsunada assigned me to one of the search teams in the hopes I could talk him into surrendering. The scenario we expected was that he would just run off and leave my team alone, but she figured it was worth a shot. When I talked to him, he just laughed and powered up a chidori." The pink-haired teen now had tears running down her cheeks, but was still trying not to cry. Launching herself off the chair, she threw herself into her former teammate's arms.

Naruto gave a nervous glance to the side, uncertainty written across his face. Hinata merely gave a sad smile and a nod before backing away and quietly exiting the room. Tentatively wrapping his arms around her, he did his best to try and sooth his friend. "Don't cry, Sakura-chan. I know he's going to wake up, and everything will be okay."

"But it won't be, Naruto. I brushed his affection away all these years, dreaming of Sasuke. Then he does return, and he tries to kill me." Her entire body was shaking now, and Naruto could feel the tears soaking through the fabric on his shoulder. He was starting to panic. He had never seen Sakura so upset and he had no idea of how to calm her down. Sakura continued on, oblivious to her comforter's growing unease. "He threw himself at Sasuke, even though he knew he couldn't win. He did it on that stupid promise he made me as a child. He's going to hate me when he wakes up, Naruto. He'll hate me for not loving him, and for somehow making him love me. And," her voice cracked, the last words emerging as a pained whisper, "I'll never be able to change that now."

Naruto walked back to the bedside, placing Sakura back in her chair. He then knelt down beside her and looked into her eyes. "Sakura-chan, listen to me. When I got there, Sasuke told me to look him over before we fought, to see his handiwork. He had used a jutsu that is usually reserved for torture. It keeps you conscious no matter how much pain you are in, allowing them to be tortured beyond the limit of human endurance. I couldn't believe he was still alive after all Sasuke did to him. He smiled before I dispelled the jutsu. He told me, 'I never thought I'd buy her this much time.'"

At that, Naruto looked directly into Sakura's eyes and calmly stated, "He is going to wake up, and he will not hate you. No matter what happens, he will never hate you."

Naruto stood and left, leaving Sakura sitting beside the bed. Sitting beside the bed and holding the hand of Rock Lee.

This story was meant as a one-shot, although it can become multi chaptered if readers wish. Please let me know if you want me to continue.


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Notes 1) I don't own Naruto or its characters.

2) Please review this story, as it is the first one I have written, feedback would greatly help me improve.

3) _Constructive _criticism is perfectly fine, compliments are also nice.

4) Thank you to my friend Alex for his help.

Chapter 2

Sakura stroked Lee's hair delicately. He was still unconscious, but looked much better than he had before. The cuts had healed and the bruises had faded. His breath was now drawn into him by his own lungs, rather than the respirator he had been depending on up until early last week. Sakura was sure that he would wake up soon, and while she hoped for it every day, she was still apprehensive as to what would happen then. She wanted to believe the comforting words that Naruto had spoken when he and Hinata visited; in fact, she did believe them. But that last bit of worry still remained to gnaw at her, and try as she might, Sakura found she could not exorcise it from her mind. Wrapped up as she was in her thoughts, with her hand still tracing the injured ninja's face, she did not hear the person enter the room and come up behind her.

The soft rapping of knuckles against the wall brought Sakura back to reality. Whirling around in surprise, the startled kunoichi instinctively brought her hands up into a defensive position. "What do you wa… ahh Hokage-sama, please forgive my rudeness, I was startled by you."

"No need for apologies Sakura, I know what it is like to be worried for people."

The younger ninja gave a small nod to acknowledge the Hokage's forgiveness, but remained silent, letting the legendary ninja continue.

"He looks better, does he not?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama, he is better."

The leader of Konoha smirked at the difference between how Sakura and Naruto treated her. She would have expected that one would have rubbed off on the other. "You, on the other hand," she stated while looking Sakura over, "look absolutely terrible." It was true; Sakura's hair was disheveled, her outfit wrinkled, and her face dirty. "The result of spending so many nights sleeping here in a chair, no doubt. You should go home and clean yourself off."

"No, Hokage-sama, I need to stay here with Lee. Something could happen, he could wake up, or need help, and I want to be here. I cannot leave."

"Well I'm afraid you will have to, Sakura, I have something of a mission for you. It will not take long, only a couple hours at most, but I must insist that you handle it right now."

"What is it you would have me do, Hokage-sama?"

"You need to speak with Sasuke."

Sakura stared at her leader incredulously, her mouth open for several seconds before she was able to speak.

"No."

"I beg your pardon?"

"No, I refuse. Send someone else to speak to that bastard, for I have no intention of doing it."

"Now you listen to me," Tsunade growled, doing her best to keep her anger in check, "I understand your feelings, but you are a ninja of this village and we need this of you. We have to know what Sasuke was doing in our territory, and whether Orochimaru is involved. As Hokage, I am ordering you to find out."

The anger was taken out of Sakura as she listened to the speech, but she still pressed forward. "Why me? This seems like a job that Ibiki is a lot more suited to."

"Ibiki has already done his best to 'persuade' Sasuke to cooperate. He is very well suited to withstanding both physical and mental pain, however. That is why I am sending you to make a deal with him." With a snap of her fingers, a folder appeared in Tsunada's hand. Sakura took the offered folder and opened it to inspect the papers inside.

"But this is all of the information we ever collected on Uchiha Itachi. Most of this is highly classified, and I know we have never released the report on this last battle that we had with him."

"True," Tsunade nodded, "but Itachi is not a potential threat now; Sasuke is. I need you to do this because Sasuke will never expect you to lie to him. You do not even need to lie. He gives us the information we want, and we will give him the information he wants. It's a simple trade, and the sooner you get it over with, the sooner you can get back here."

"Fine, tell me what you want me to find out."

"Excellent. And you really should take the time to clean up, you do look like hell. Now come along, I'll tell you what you need to find out." At that, Tsunade exited the room, with Sakura following.

Sakura looked into her closet with a sigh. Tsunade was correct; she had been neglecting herself for the last couple of weeks, and taking the time to rest and shower had definitely helped her to feel better. She pulled out a plain white blouse and a pair of light blue pants. No point in taking the time to dress up for that traitor. Picking up the folder from her dresser, she headed out of her house and began the walk to ANBU headquarters. Passing the guards she reported to the jounin who was sitting at a desk.

"Haruno Sakura, reporting as ordered to speak to the Uchiha traitor, sir."

"Excellent, we've been expecting your arrival. Please follow me." Rising from his seat, he opened a heavy iron door and proceeded down a staircase. "Hopefully you can get something out of him, although I doubt it. He's proved exceedingly difficult to get information out of. Oh, don't worry about the fact that he isn't restrained. He has multiple seals placed on him to prevent him from accessing any chakra, either from himself or his cursed seal."

Sakura nodded. "I'm not worried, I'd expect that the ANBU would have him completely under control."

"Well, that's not totally accurate. If he was under our control he'd be answering our questions. But he is completely restrained at least. He won't be going anywhere. Here we are," stated Sakura's escort, stopping in front of a cell. Unlocking it, he turned to her and said, "You just need to yell if he tries to cause trouble, although you should be able to handle him yourself. Without his chakra, he's nothing more than an exceedingly fit villager." Turning, he strode down the hall, leaving Sakura to enter the cell.

She found the structure as she had expected, cold stone and iron bars. There was nothing beyond a toilet and small bed, on which Sasuke sat. He was much the same as he had always been. His clothing was dark and plain, save for the Uchiha crest which, as always, rested on the back of his shirt, and his onyx hair still complimented the permanent scowl that he wore on his face. He seemed as cold as ever. Of course, he was as cold as ever.

"Sasuke."

"Sakura. I'm surprised you haven't been here sooner. Come to beg forgiveness for Naruto hurting me, no doubt." He gave a contemptuous snort. "Weak."

A look of pure anger crossed her face. "Shut your damn mouth, Sasuke." Her outburst brought a small look of surprise to his face. "You think I give a shit about you still? The only reason I'm not with Lee now is because the Hokage ordered me to come and negotiate with you. And if you think I like seeing you, you're about to be surprised."

Sasuke merely smirked at her, "And of course you will be able to succeed where ANBU trained specifically in information extraction have failed. What kind of negotiation have you got in mind?"

Sakura held up the folder in her hand. "This contains all the information we have on your older brother. You tell me what we want to know, I'll let you see everything we have in here." Sasuke narrowed his eyes, glaring at her. Undaunted, she began flipping through the folder as she continued. "Hmm, photos of your parents, a detailed study of his use of the Mange Sharingan. Well, will you look at this? I don't think most of our own ninjas are aware that this fight even took place. Now then," Sakura snapped the folder closed and looked hard at Sasuke, "what is your current relationship with Orochimaru?"

There was a pause in which Sakura could see Sasuke weighing the options, trying to decide what to do. "He is my superior, as I am a jounin in the Hidden Village of Sound."

"Really, has he not tried to take possession of your body?"

"He has told me that was his original intent, but he has since taken control of a body more powerful than my own. I do not know what it is capable of."

Sakura made a note to mention that to the Hokage. That was definitely worth looking further into, but she wanted to get this done with as soon as possible. "And what were you doing in close proximity to our village?"

He glared at her with pure hatred in his eyes, "I was looking for my brother. I have not been able to find his trail anywhere."

Sakura returned the look he gave her with one of equal intensity "And Orochimaru is just willing to let you run off after him whenever you feel like it?"

Sasuke's voice took on a bitter tone. "I have been told that I have become an annoyance with my constant need to obtain revenge. In return for this one chance, I shall never ask for anything again at cost of my life. If I do not return, I am told that the Sound has stronger ninjas than me anyways. I am expendable."

"And should we be expecting a rescue for you?"

"I have no contact with the Sound village at this point. But don't worry, I'll find my way out of here eventually."

Sakura just stared at him. "Anything else to add?"

"That would be up to you." He held his hand out to Sakura, accepting the folder she passed to him. Opening it up, he began to read the first paper in the folder. After a few seconds, his eyes snapped back to the other person in the cell, who was now smiling quite proudly. "You lied to me."

"I did not. That file contains all of the information we have on Itachi, including his final battle." Sakura was unable to repress a small shudder as she thought back to the details of that from little more than a year ago.

_The Konoha ninja stood with their weapons drawn, crouched in battle stances, facing the two Akatsuki. Itachi smiled casually as he spoke to his partner. "Ah, excellent, Kisame, our escort has arrived. I knew these two teams would be prompt."_

"_Your escort?" Kiba shouted at him, "What the hell are you talking about?"_

_Itachi sighed, "The documents submitted to your village were fakes. Rather than attempt a fight inside the village where we would be highly outnumbered, we decided to lure you all here."_

"_Why do you want to fight us?"_

"_We only want Naruto, actually. We just requested your team as well because it would cost more. It's actually easier to request two specific teams instead of one if you do it in advance. Ninja villages will always do more for a higher paying client. Now then, why don't you tell your friends to go home, and you can come along with us, Naruto."_

"_Like hell I'm going with you," shouted the blond ninja, shaking his fist. "You should go home now before I kick your ass."_

_Itachi shrugged. "Very well then. Kisame, you said you wanted to be the one to take him down."_

_As Kisame drew Samehada from his back, Naruto formed his favorite seal and drew forth seven shadow clones. The clones immediately charged in, only to be destroyed by the fearsome sword Kisame wielded. "That may be a forbidden technique, but it's still too weak to work on me," the former mist-nin smirked. He dashed forwards, and Naruto ran to intercept him._

"_Stay back, all of you, he's way too strong." Naruto funneled his chakra into his feet and leapt over Kisame's intended sword slice. Spinning in the air, he came down facing his opponent's back. He activated a rasengen and charged at Kisame, hoping to hit him while he was still overextended from the attack. Kisame whirled around, pulling the bandages away from his sword as he turned. Naruto was too close to stop his momentum, and Kisame smashed the side of the blade into the charging ninja's face, letting its many razors tear away Naruto's flesh. Howling in pain, Naruto grabbed the side of his face while his teammates looked on in horror. They could see bare bone between Naruto's fingers, such damage from a halfhearted attack was terrifying._

_Hinata stared at the one who had just started to return her affections. She had just taken a step forwards, when two hands grabbed onto her shoulders. "No, Hinata," Kiba spoke, as both he and Shino held onto her, "he's way out of our league."_

_Hinata turned her attention back to the battlefield where Naruto was now sailing through the air due to a powerful kick. He landed on his side, still clutching his face. Kisame was slowly advancing towards him, his sword pointed at the injured ninja. Hinata shook off her teammates' arms. "I don't care how strong he is, I love Naruto-kun." Hinata activated her byakugan and created three doppelgangers before charging._

"_Kisame!" _

_Turning to meet the voice, Kisame found four copies of the same ninja charging at him. He almost laughed at so foolish an attack; he could easily sense that three of the copies had only a minimal amount of chakra, while the fourth had far more than the others. He brought his sword up, and sent it crashing down at the ninja with the high amount of chakra. It sliced right through Hinata, and she disappeared. His eyes widened as he realized what had happened. The girl had funneled almost all of her chakra into the one clone, and poured enough into the other two so that they appeared completely equal with her. In the split second that it took him to realize this, Hinata struck._

_Her byakugan eyes guiding her, she lashed out at the tenketsu points on Kisame's arm. She struck every point on his right arm, rendering it useless before Kisame could even react. As the sword fell to the ground, she aimed a strike at his heart. Just before she made contact, his left hand grabbed her wrist with a vice-like grip and twisted her arm up and away from her body._

"_Nice trick," the injured ninja hissed, "here's mine." Raising his leg high he brought it crashing down on the kunoichi's bent elbow in a powerful scissor kick. Hinata screamed, and as he released her hand she dropped to the ground. The attack had shattered the bones in her elbow. _

"_Hinata-chan!" Naruto was on his knees; he had been struggling to stand when Kisame struck his girlfriend. Kisame looked at him and smirked._

"_You know Naruto, the longer you resist, the more she'll suffer. Look at her. I'll bet with enough pressure, those broken bones could be ground into powder." Raising his foot, he slammed it down onto Hinata's arm and began to grind his heel back and forth. Hinata screamed even louder than before, her entire body arching off the ground as pain spasmed through her._

_Naruto screamed. Not at Kisame, or in anger, or pain or anything else. He just screamed as he felt sanity slipping away. He sprinted towards his target, charging in a cloud of red chakra so fearsome it was nearly impossible to see him in it. He came in with fangs bared and claws pointed forward, but he didn't realize any of it. He had no clue what was going on, his consciousness had completely faded away. Kisame took it all in and realized something inevitable. He was about to die. _

_The first swipe of Naruto's claws he managed to turn away with his left arm, as well as the second. The third, however, came before he was prepared for it. Without the use of his right arm he was unable to block it, and he twisted his body sideways in an awkward dodge. Off balance he had no chance as Naruto's face lunged forward, his fangs tearing into Kisame's throat. Kisame fell to the ground, but Naruto did not release the death bite. Before they were on the ground, his claws had torn through Kisame's ribs. By the time they had hit the ground he had shredded his heart._

_Itachi shook as he looked at the scene. He didn't remember the last time he felt such fear. It was hard to see through the chakra, but it looked like bits of flesh were stuck in the now-standing ninja's teeth. As the red mass began to fly towards him, he sent his most powerful lightning jutsu at it. The bolts of electricity struck Naruto and poured into him. Itachi channeled everything he had into it. He wasn't trying to capture his opponent; now he was fighting for his life. Naruto was oblivious to the pain, his clothes were smoking and the blood that had pooled on the side of his face was actually evaporating, but his mind still wasn't registering anything. He kept charging Itachi._

_The first attack struck directly home. Itachi had held his jutsu until the end, desperate to try to stop the demon from reaching him. Naruto's claws hit his stomach, his face, his arms. Itachi died on his feet, but didn't fall. It took almost ten seconds for his corpse to drop as Naruto repeatedly sunk one set of claws in, and tore out a chunk of flesh with the other._

_The Konoha ninjas stared in terror at their comrade. He stood perfectly still, panting for breath as his mysterious red aura, along with his claw and fangs faded away. No one dared to approach the unmoving ninja. Suddenly his body jerked as though slapped. Naruto whirled around with a look of sheer terror on his face, "Hinata-chan!" He took two steps towards her before he collapsed to the ground._

"There is no way Naruto killed both of them."

"Naruto didn't kill them, Sasuke." The prisoner looked at her, too shocked to remember to scowl. "He defended his friends, and his most precious person. Think about that while you contemplate why you have no power." Turning, Sakura strode out of the room, the cell locking behind her.

Sakura walked directly back to the hospital. Her task had taken up more than an hour. It was foolish to worry, she thought, but something terrible could have happened to Lee. Reaching the room, she quietly opened the door, slipped inside, and closed it again.

"Sakura-chan." The whisper nearly made her jump out of her skin. Shocked, she turned towards the injured ninja's bed. Lee was awake.

"Sakura-chan, you came to see me?" The voice, while quiet, carried enormous joy and disbelief. Sakura focused on the former and ignored the latter.

"Of course Lee-kun, I spend all my time here."

"Really?"

Sakura gave the warmest smile she had, and walked towards Lee's bed. "Yes Lee, I would have been here when you awoke, but I had to speak to Sasuke." Her hands instantly clamped over her mouth. Eyes wide, she watched the boy in the bed deflate.

"Ah, I see."

"No Lee, you don't understand, I had to at Hokage-sama's orders. I've been at your side the whole time."

"Sakura-chan, you don't need to say such things." Sakura's eyes were tearing over as Lee spoke. "I understand that…"

The rest of the sentence was cut off by Sakura leaning down and pressing her mouth tightly to Lee's.

I am truly sorry this chapter took so long. I meant to have it up earlier, but school and various problems on this site prevented me from doing so. I sincerely promise that further chapters should not take this long. Also, please review this story so that I know someone is reading it if you want me to continue.

Thanks for the review Katzzar. I hope you liked this.

Sincerely: Delais


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Notes 1) I don't own Naruto or its characters.

2) Please review this story, as it is the first one I have written, feedback would greatly help me improve.

3) _Constructive _criticism is perfectly fine, compliments are also nice.

4) Thank you to my friend Alex for his help.

Chapter 3

Sakura's heart was pounding in her chest. She had spent all those years pining away for Sasuke, but now here she was with Lee. What if she did something wrong? This was the first time she had kissed a boy, and she had no clue if she was doing something wrong. Nervously she broke the kiss and stood back up, looking down at the boy lying in the hospital bed.

Lee was wide-eyed, gazing at Sakura with a look of incredulity. His breath came in gasps, as if he was so surprised that he was having trouble breathing. Sakura smiled; at least she had managed to get him to stop him from what he had been about to say.

"Sa - Sakura-chan?" Lee's voice trembled as he spoke. "Does this mean that you don't care about Sasuke any longer? Does this mean that you care…?" Leaning down, Sakura gave the shocked youth a quick peck on the cheek.

"You tell me, Lee, what do you think it means?"

Lee's smile grew from ear to ear. "Why?"

It took Sakura a moment to understand what he was talking about, but when she did she shook her head. "Because, Lee, you have always been there for me. Whenever I have been sad, or scared, or injured, you have been there trying to make me feel better. You have always tried so hard to bring a smile to my face, to protect me. Whenever I think back to spending time with Sasuke, it's always insults and rejections, and feelings of hurt. And now, when we ran into him in the forest…" Sakura's voice trailed off as her mind began to replay the events that had happened.

_Shikamaru was down. His face was twisted in pain as he tried to cradle his ribs, an action that was proving exceedingly difficult due to the kunai stuck through one of his palms. _

_Sasuke smirked at him, his voice proud as he taunted the injured squad leader. "Well congratulations Shikamaru, your plan worked perfectly. The Uchiha heir has been tracked down and cornered by a mere chunin. Why aren't you a jounin yet anyways?"_

_Shikamaru gritted his teeth against the pain as he rolled back onto his feet. "Too -argh- troublesome." His answer was interrupted by his grunt of pain as he tore the kunai out of his hand_

_"Ah, I see. Konoha's greatest genius remains as lazy as ever. Tell me, was it too much trouble to realize that once you caught me you would have no chance of defeating me?"_

_"We can take you, Sasuke," Shikamaru said. His breath was ragged, but his voice still held its confidence. "It's all planned out." He brought his hands together and began to form the seals for the Nara family jutsu, ignoring the pain in his injured hand. But it was hopeless. The damage Sasuke's kunai had inflicted prevented him from properly forming the seals._

_Sasuke sprinted in and slammed his fist into Shikamaru's face. Shikamaru flew backwards, falling to the ground at his teammates' feet. "Tell me, was this part of the plan?"_

_Sakura stepped in front of her two teammates with tears in her eyes. "Sasuke-kun, please stop. You don't have to do this."_

_"Oh no? And what should I do? Return to the village I betrayed, the village filled with weaklings who despise me and who hold me back? Tell me why I would want to do something like that Sakura."_

_"The villagers would forgive you, Sasuke-kun. We could get the Hokage to pardon you. And I bet if you asked him, Naruto would help you get stronger."_

_"Like I need that idiot's help. I'm far stronger than he could ever be. You're all weak, and I don't need any of you. I've never needed any of you."_

_Sakura felt the tears falling freely down her cheeks as she pleaded with him. "Please Sasuke-kun! I know that we could help you. Please don't do this. Sasuke-kun, I - I still love you."_

_Sasuke laughed and thrust his palm downwards. The air around it began to crackle with electricity. A loud chirping could be heard as the chidori burst into being. "That just shows how weak you are Sakura." Sasuke drew his arm up, holding the chidori and charged at her. Sakura stared at Sasuke horrified, unable to move away. Her mind vaguely registered the green blur behind her as her remaining teammate entered the fray. Lee intercepted Sasuke. Sasuke twisted, trying to get his arm across to strike Lee with his lightning attack. Lee ducked under the thrust, and swept Sasuke's legs out from below him. As Sasuke fought to regain his balance, Lee placed both his hands on the ground and pushed off of them angling a kick towards Sasuke's jaw. Sasuke's head snapped back, and he tumbled through the air before crashing to the ground. As Sasuke touched down, Lee looked over his shoulder to Sakura._

_"Sakura-chan, you need to go now."_

_"Lee-san?"_

_Lee knelt down, and in a single fluid motion tore his weights away from his ankles. "Go now. Take Shikamaru; and hurry, Sakura-chan. This is not a fight I can win."_

_"But..."_

_"Now!" Lee turned his head back and charged towards Sasuke. They met on the run and began trading attacks._

_"Lee-san." Sakura stared at the two of them for a moment before picking up Shikamaru turning to flee._

"I'm sorry, Lee-kun." Her quiet voice surprised Lee, jolting from his own memories back into the present.

"Sakura-chan?"

"I'm so sorry, Lee-kun. I'm so sorry it took all this for me to realize how wonderful you are. To realize how much I love you. Please forgive me."

Lee pulled her down into a warm embrace. "There is nothing to forgive, Sakura-chan. You have accepted me, and that is all I need to know." Sakura smiled, and, tilting her head, pressed herself against Lee for her second kiss.

Due to essays and exams coming up in university this chapter is not what it was supposed to be. It should have been posted several days ago, and what you read should probably only have been about the first half of the chapter. The second half was meant to deal with Lee starting to recover from his injuries; it will be up next week, probably on Wednesday, at latest on Thursday.

I am considering a one chapter side story focusing on the revelation that Naruto is the container for Kyubi. It would take place one day after the battle he had with Kisame and Itachi in the last chapter, and would not slow down the update of this story in any way. Would anyone like to see it?

As always, please review so I know to continue: Delais


	4. Chapter 4

Authors Notes 1) I don't own Naruto or its characters.

2) Please review this story, as it is the first one I have written, feedback would greatly help me improve.

3) _Constructive _criticism is perfectly fine, compliments are also nice.

4) Thank you to my friend Alex for his help.

Chapter 4

They broke the kiss, Sakura looking down at Lee with a smile. The thick-eyebrowed ninja was wearing the largest grin she had ever seen on him. Her own smile changed into a thoughtful gaze as she looked at Lee.

"Lee-kun, why do your parents look so different than you do?"

Lee merely smiled at the question. "By which you mean, why do they look normal when I look like this. I'm adopted, Sakura-chan. No one really knows who my parents were, but it's likely that they were killed in Kyubi's attack on the village. But when did you meet my parents?"

Sakura laughed at the question, shaking her head. "You've been in the hospital for several weeks, Lee-kun, you don't think they came to see you?"

"Ah yes, were they nice to you? Oh, Sakura-chan, did Gai-sensei come to visit me?"

"They seemed like very nice people, Lee. And everyone has stopped by at least once. Gai was here a few times."

"Oh." His face went slightly downcast. "He hasn't spent much time here then."

Sakura tried to think of a way to cheer him up. It was true that Gai had not been in all that often, but it had been obvious that he had been worried about his former student. She decided o just go with the truth. "You know that he cares about you, Lee-kun. Gai-sensei was very worried, but that doesn't mean that he can stop doing his job. He does have a new group of students to teach, remember?"

Lee's eyes began to water. "How foolish of me, Sakura-chan. How could I expect Gai-sensei to abandon his students after all he has taught me? A ninja must always fulfill his mission, no matter what his personal feelings." The young man's expression changed, his eyes clearing, excitement shining out of them. "Gai-sensei is an amazing teacher, and his students are lucky to have his example to benefit from so early on in the springtime of their youth!"

The smile remained on Sakura's face, although inwardly she shook her head. She admired Lee's enthusiasm, but suspected that such proclamations involving the 'springtime of youth' would become annoying fairly quickly. "Indeed Lee-kun."

"What about you, Sakura-chan?" Lee gave her a confused look.

"I don't know. Kakashi-sensei was very nice, and it's not that he did a poor job of training us. Still, we were the first group that he passed, and I'm not too sure that he would have done some things the same way if he had had a bit more experience." Sakura shrugged her shoulders, "I guess maybe Gai beats him in that respect."

"Um, I meant how have you been able to spend all your time here instead of carrying out your own missions, Sakura-chan?"

"Well," she replied, shifting her weight nervously from one foot to the other as she spoke, "I asked Hokage-sama for a leave of absence until you awoke; I suppose now that you are, I'll start getting missions again."

"That would be correct," spoke a new voice from the hall.

Sakura turned while Lee strained to sit up, both recognizing the voice at the door. Tsunade strode into the room, her face a mixture of happiness and care. "Well, it's about time you woke up, Lee. You've worried me, as well as a lot of other people, especially your friend here. You're pretty lucky to have someone who cares that deeply for you.

Lee looked down for a moment, shrugging his shoulders in an attempt to hide his embarrassment.

"Hokage-sama, when may I return to active duty?"

"Well, Lee, probably not for a while. I'm guessing you used your Primary Lotus technique. And of course you used all six gates that you are capable of." When he nodded confirmation, she shook her head. "I'd say you are going to be out for at least three more weeks. More likely it will be a little over a month. And depending on how fast you heal, I may have you assigned to a lighter schedule than you are used to after that." She raised her hand to silence any protest before it came. "Don't look at me like that, Lee. There's a reason that the Lotus techniques are forbidden jutsu, to say nothing of everything Sasuke inflicted on you. Speaking of which, now that you are awake, I need to see how much movement you are capable of." Tsunade turned to Sakura. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Come back in an about an hour or so if you wish."

Sakura nodded to the Hokage, turned and gave a quick smile to Lee and then quickly left the room.

Sakura took the time to get something to eat, and to visit Ino at work. She barely had time to tell her that Lee was awake before she was dashing back to the hospital to see how he was. She arrived just as Tsunade was exiting the room. Tsunade motioned for her to follow, and Sakura fell into step behind her.

"Well," the Hokage began, "it isn't quite as bad as I suspected. His bones are almost completely healed. There were quite a few broken ones, but it wasn't too bad. It looks like I pretty much fixed those up when I treated him. The real problem is going to be his nerves. Sasuke's torture jutsu did a hell of a number on those. His muscles and bones shouldn't take very long to finish healing at all. But even after they do, it's going to take a lot of work for him to be ready to return to active duty. And not only that but he's going to need another ninja to help him train.

"Why?"

"Mostly to supervise him. He'll push himself too far too fast otherwise. It will probably be a problem to find someone to work with him. I'll need someone he trusts. Someone who he will listen to if they tell him to stop."

"What about Gai?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Right. Gai will definitely tell Lee that he needs to stop training after he hits his limit. Besides, he's got his own students to look after right now, and a mission like this will defiantly take up a lot of time. It will need to be someone who doesn't have any other duties at the moment." Tsunade gave Sakura a sly look. "Can you think of anyone Lee trusts that doesn't have any other missions coming up, Sakura?"

"Hokage-sama, are you actually serious about this?"

Tsunade smiled and Sakura broke out into a wide grin. "Just get him back into shape as soon as possible," ordered the Hokage. "But make sure he doesn't push himself too much."

"Hai! Thank you very much, Hokage-sama." Sakura stopped walking for a moment to bow to Tsunade, before matching stride with her once more.

Tsunade waved her hand dismissivly. "Don't mention it, it will probably help you to work on your skills at the same time. After all, he will need a sparring partner." Tsunade looked at Sakura and arched her eyebrows, hoping to draw a rise out of the younger ninja. Sakura however, merely blushed and turned her face away.

Oh well, thought Tsunade, they couldn't all be as much fun as Naruto. Still, there was more business to attend to. She snapped her fingers to regain Sakura's attention.

"It's your turn to talk. I still need my report on Uchiha Sasuke

Well, I finally got Lee out of the hospital. I hope this will allow for further character development in future chapters, as well as giving me a chance to try writing some fights. I've been running through a few in my head and think they will go better than the one from chapter 2.

Since people who reviewed seemed positive about it, I have wrote a side story about after Naruto lost control to Kyubi in chapter 2. It is called We Can Never Be. Hopefully you can find it since my friends report it is impossible to search for me or my works in any way.

As always, please review- Delais Starlight


	5. Chapter 5

Authors Notes 1) I don't own Naruto or its characters.

2) Please review this story, as it is the first one I have written, feedback would greatly help me improve.

3) _Constructive _criticism is perfectly fine, compliments are also nice.

4) Thank you to my friend Alex for his help.

Chapter 5

Yakamo darted from tree to tree, moving quietly but rapidly. Raising a hand to his forehead, he brushed his grey hair out of his green eyes. He could have moved faster, but that would require sacrificing stealth. The last thing he needed was to deal with a patrol of Konoha ninja.

Orochimaru's orders had been very specific. The Sound leader had been keeping tabs on Sasuke since he had left the village. He had let the last Uchiha leave in search of his brother over a year ago. Despite what he lad let Sasuke think, he was not expendable to the Sennin, he had simply become too obsessed with his thoughts of revenge to focus on anything else. Orochimaru had ordered Yakamo to the Leaf village to discover if his fears of Sasuke's capture were true. He was merely to gather information about Sasuke, he was not to attempt a rescue unless receiving further orders to.

Pausing for a moment, Yakamo smirked. He might not look it, but espionage was his specialty. This was going to be an easy mission.

Sakura leaned back against a tree, panting for breath. Lee sat beside her, wincing as he rewrapped one of the bandages on his arm. Sakura slid down to sit with him, clutching her ribs as she did.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I didn't mean to hit that hard."

Sakura looked at her boyfriend out of the corner of her eye. "It's fine, Lee-kun. The whole idea of me training with you for the last month is that you are able to hurt people again."

"But still Sakura-chan, I shouldn't have done that."

"You've done worse, Lee-kun. But it's fine. I'm just glad you've managed to recover. There's nothing to apologize for."

"Arigato, Sakura-chan."

Sakura looked at her boyfriend, who had a small smile spreading across his face. She was so proud of the way that he had trained for the last month, pushing himself as hard as she would let him, trying to regain his strength. It had helped her as well. Her stamina had increased, as had her taijutsu skills. Her ninjutsu had not improved all that much, as she had been reluctant to throw fireballs or lightning bolts at someone whom she was supposed to be helping to get better. Her genjutsu had greatly improved at least. A month of constantly employing illusions and invisibility too dodge Lee's attacks meant that she was one of the strongest chunin genjutsu users in the village.

"Lee-kun, do you know if they are still going to promote you to jounin when you recover?"

"I don't know, Sakura-chan. Our mission against Sasuke was meant to be my last chunin mission before my official promotion. I imagine that Tsunade-sama will still promote me. Why?"

"Because I am recommending that you be returned to active duty, providing Hokage-sama approves."

Lee sprang to his feet, fire burning in his eyes. "Yosh! The green beast of Konoha shall fight again. I will prove that…" He trailed off, his enthusiasm lost as he noticed his most precious person looking upset. "Sakura-chan, is something wrong?"

The pink haired kunoichi sat looking worried. Almost as though she wanted to cry, but had decided against it. She paused, carefully considering her words. "I'm sorry for being upset, Lee-kun. It's just that I'm worried about what will happen to you. I don't want you to die on some stupid mission."

"Sakura-chan," he said, his words were spilling out of his mouth at rapid speed, a tendency he had that showed when he was nervous. "Sakura-chan, please don't be worried. It's a ninja's job to put ourselves in danger, right? And besides, it will make me stronger." He smiled, giving his girlfriend his 'nice guy' pose.

"But why do you need to be any stronger?"

Lee's grin was broken by the unexpected question, a hesitant look crossing his face as he examined it. "I need to prove my way of the ninja, that even without any ninjutsu or genjutsu, I will still be able to fulfill my duties to the village. And even more importantly, I need to be strong enough to defend you, and all of the other people I care for."

Glancing at the sky, Lee held out his hand. "It's getting late, let's head back."

Always the gentleman, Sakura thought, noting that an expression of pain flickered over his features as he helped her up. "Tell you what, Lee-kun. Why don't we go out next week to celebrate your recovery and promotion?"

"Yosh!"

They parted ways at Lee's apartment. Sakura pressing herself up against him for a goodbye kiss, before resuming her own journey home.

"Oi, Sakura-chan."

Turning, she walked over towards the voice. She took a seat next to Naruto, who was sitting with Hinata at the Ichiraku ramen bar.

"You know, this isn't the greatest place to take a date, Naruto."

Sakura smiled as her offhand comment got the desired effect. Hinata began to turn crimson, and Naruto started to yell.

"Hey there's nothing wrong with ramen, Sakura-chan. Besides, this isn't really a date. I always go here after I've finished training." Naruto's eyes closed, his face shifting into the expression he often wore when thinking. "Ehh, except when I train until I pass out. But Hinata-chan made me promise that I won't do that anymore."

"So you were training with Hinata?"

"Yeah, I've been helping her get really strong. That way she can stand up to Neji and stuff." The blond haired youth looked excitedly at his girlfriend. "Right, Hinata-chan?"

"Hai, Naruto-kun." Hinata gave a small smile and nod, speaking in her quiet voice.

Sakura never got tired of watching the two of them together. They were polar opposites. Hinata, quiet and reserved, and Naruto, loud and excited. She occasionally wondered what their children would be like if they ever got married.

"Hey, hey, Sakura-chan. How's it been going with thick-brows? Is he getting really strong again yet?"

Loud, they would definitely be loud.

"His name, Naruto, is Lee. Lee is doing fine, Naruto. In fact, I have recommended Lee be returned to active duty, Naruto." She stressed the name Lee every time she spoke it, looking intently at her former teammate.

"Really. You should come spar with us tomorrow then, if you aren't training with him. How about it, hey?"

Sakura considered it. It would be a good challenge to test herself with. She was curious to see how much she had improved. "Sure thing, Naruto."

"Alright, this'll be great." He paused for a moment, to let a grin spread slowly over his face, "I bet you've got a lot stronger from training with thick-brows." He jumped out of his chair, tossing money onto the counter. "I should probably leave, Hinata-chan. Like right now. Bye." At that Naruto took off, leaving Sakura to fume and Hinata to cover her face and hide a giggle at the pink haired girl's expression.

The fight was not going nearly as well as Sakura had hoped. She tossed a kunai at a charging Hinata, and leapt backwards, trying to keep her distance. She couldn't engage Hinata hand to hand. Although the blue haired girl wasn't at Lee's level, she didn't have to be. She had already managed to seal two of Sakura's tenketsu points, and while that wasn't enough to prevent Sakura from properly accessing her chakra, it was making it a hell of a lot harder. Add to that that genjutsu, easily Sakura's strongest skill was rendered useless by Hinata's byakugen, and Sakura was definitely in trouble.

Her kunai sailed harmlessly through Hinata. She might not be able to use genjutsu but her opponent certainly was. She quickly looked around, scouting for her opponent. She spotted Hinata coming in from the right side, and began to form hand seals. She might not be very good at ninjutsu, but she didn't have a lot of other options available. Finishing the seals just as Hinata reached her, she spun to face her, clapping her hands together. The sound amplified far louder than it should have, a shock wave rippling through the air to wash over Hinata. Sakura again jumped back, smiling as her opponent did not pursue.

Hinata stood shakily, clutching at her ears. When she tried to step backwards she stumbled, throwing her hands out to try and balance herself before she fell. Dropping to one knee, she looked at Sakura questioningly.

"It's a modified version of something I saw one of the sound-nins use in our first chunin exam. I might not be one for ninjutsu, but I do have a few good ones." Sakura smirked and began to walk towards her opponent. "Sorry Hinata, but I'm ending this fight now."

Hinata glanced to the edge of the training field, looking over at Naruto. The blond had remained quiet for the match, stating he couldn't cheer for either fighter, as they were both precious to him. Still she could see encouragement shining out of his eyes. She snapped her head back to face Sakura, causing her to halt her approach. It was rare to see such a look of determination on Hinata's face.

Still on the one knee, Hinata brought her hands up into a very familiar seal. "You aren't the only one that can use a few ninjutsu when they're forced too. Sorry Sakura, but _I'm_ ending this fight now."

There was no way, thought Sakura. Naruto would never teach anyone that move, not even Hin…

"Kage-bushnin no jutsu!"

This was really going to suck.

Naruto helped Sakura back to her feet, grinning. "Not bad eh, I figured that kage-bushin would work really good for her 'cause they could seal up an opponents chakra. His smile grew from ear to ear as he looked proudly at Hinata. "That move is gonna work better for her than it ever did for me."

Hinata smiled at her boyfriend's praise. "You fought very well, Sakura. Perhaps you could train with us more often."

"Hey yeah! That would be a great idea. What do you think, Sakura-chan?"

"I don't know, Naruto. I'm not sure how much more I'm interested in training now."

"Come on, Sakura-chan. You've gotten way better than you used to be. This could make you really strong."

That struck a nerve. Sakura remembered all of the times she had felt left behind when watching Sasuke and Naruto train. She had wanted to become as good as them, not to hold them back. She felt the pain of looking at Lee lying in the hospital, unable to even breathe on his own after fighting Sasuke to save her. It was the memory of yesterday that convinced her.

_"But why do you need to be any stronger?"_

_"I need to prove my way of the ninja, that even without any ninjutsu or genjutsu, I will still be able to fulfill my duties to the village. And even more importantly, I need to be strong enough to defend you, and all of the other people I care for." _

_"I need to be strong enough to defend you."_

Her hands clenched into fists. He was not going to die, or cripple himself because he was in love with someone who was weak. She was not going to do that to him.

"I'm in."

I am incredibly sorry about the delay. I had problems meeting with my editor to correct this. It was finally done in a rush job, so I apologize for any problems. As always, please review, and the next chapter will be up on Wednesday.

Sincerely: Delais


	6. Chapter 6

Authors Notes 1) I don't own Naruto or its characters.

2) Please review this story, as it is the first one I have written, feedback would greatly help me improve.

3) _Constructive _criticism is perfectly fine, compliments are also nice.

4) Thank you to my friend Alex for his help.

Chapter 6

The ninja assigned to guarding the main gate had their orders to question anyone who attempted to gain entrance to the village from the main gate. The chunin at the gate sighed, disinterested. He hated this post, assault forces rarely took the time to attempt to peacefully walk into the village. A gate guard was generally expected to prevent lone criminals from gaining entrance. They were expected to investigate anyone whom they decided was suspicious, before allowing them entrance into Konoha. Unfortunately, as all people do, they grew complacent in some ways. So when the old man approached the gates near sundown, the guard merely smiled and nodded, returning the wave the old man gave the chunin.

Iroko was over seventy years old, and was a widower. He had been a blacksmith in his younger years, crafting shuriken, kunai, and other ninja tools for the village shinobi. His weapons were not, nor had they ever been, considered legendary; still, they had been recognized as being a bit better than average. And, in battle, a ninja would take any advantage that they could receive. He had made enough money to live comfortably, and to save for old age. After his son had died on a mission, Iroko had decided that he did not wish to make weapons any longer. He had continued for another year, to help his apprentice better develop his skill, before retiring, selling the apprentice the shop. When his wife died, he had become an old man with nothing left to do in life. He fell into a routine that never wavered; a routine he had now been following for eleven years.

The chunin returned the small wave that the old man gave him, never even thinking to investigate him. It was sundown on a Saturday; Iroko was back from his day of fishing at what was unofficially named Iroko's pond. As always, he hobbled along, carrying his pole in his left hand, and nothing in his right. The guard wasn't sure if he had ever seen the old man bring back a fish in his life.

Iroko walked through the streets along the same path that he always took back to his home. He fumbled for a moment as he took his key out of his pocket. Carefully lining the key up, he unlocked his door, and went inside for the night. Once inside, he took a few steps down the hallway before stopping. He looked around to ensure that he wasn't visible from outside before closing his eyes to concentrate. After a few seconds, he doubled over in pain. Arms clutching the sides of his stomach, he ground his teeth together, trying to resist the urge to scream. A scraping could be heard from inside his body, but not from his teeth. The sound of his bones scraping against one another could be heard. The old man's bald head began to sprout hair. Thick grey hair streamed down in front of the man's eyes. His irises looked as though someone had injected dye into them, slowly changing colour, until they were green.

Yakomo stretched his entire body, wincing as almost every bone popped. Rubbing his right shoulder a few times, he began to proceed up the stairs. Performing a couple of quick hand seals, he changed the clothing he was wearing into a pair of grey pyjamas. Smiling, Yakomo entered the bedroom. He was looking forward to his first night's sleep in his new home.

Sakura was brushing her hair when she heard the knock at the door. Standing and checking herself over in the mirror, she smiled at the reflection. Her blue silk dress had been a gift from Ino; she considered it the nicest outfit she had.

"Sakura, your date is here."

"Coming, Father."

She walked down the stairs, a slight tinge of pain shooting through her ribs. Naruto and Hinata definitely pushed themselves in training. She was glad she had managed to convince the Hokage to assign her to light duty only; she wasn't sure she could handle anything tougher.

Reaching the foot of the stairs, Sakura took in the sight with a disapproving look. Lee was standing in the front hall, looking like he wished he could turn invisible.

"He saved my life, Father."

Haruno Takoyu turned around to face his daughter, a slightly flustered look on his face. "I know dear, I just…"

"He's done it multiple times, Father."

Takoyu looked at the ground, no response ready for his daughter.

"Shake his hand, Father."

Looking anywhere but at the youth in front of him, Takoyu held out his hand. With a smile, Lee grasped it, being careful not to shake too hard. This man wasn't a ninja after all.

Sakura beamed like this was the greatest thing in the world; she gave her father a quick peck on the cheek before grabbing onto Lee's arm.

"Come on Lee-kun. I don't want to be late." And at that, she ran out the door before her father could say anything, pulling Lee into the night.

It was a wonderful evening. They went out for dinner, and to dance. Sakura tried to stay away from anything but the slow songs. No need to take a chance at aggravating an injury from training; she didn't need Naruto to slow her schedule down any further. Besides, she figured, Lee-kun wouldn't complain too much about their dance card.

They walked home, arm in arm. Sakura rested her head on Lee's shoulder. This was perfect. This was exactly what love should be; the other person loving you just as much as you did them. This was one of the best nights of her life. They turned onto her street. Her house was the only one with the front light on.

"Sakura-chan, may I ask you a question?"

"Hai Lee-kun?"

"Why are your ribs taped?"

"Lee-kun?" This could be a difficult situation, Sakura reflected. She should be careful with her answers

"I could feel it when we danced Sakura-chan. Silk isn't exactly the thickest of materials. What happened?"

"I've been training with Naruto and Hinata for the last week, since you've returned to active duty. I stayed in a fight with Naruto one hit longer than I should have. It's no big deal, really."

"Sakura-chan, you shouldn't be training so hard, you could get hurt." Lee looked horrified at the very concept.

"So what?" She pulled her head off his shoulder, her tone cross; she didn't like being treated like glass, it reminded her of her inability to help her teammates in the past.

"So you shouldn't have to be injured. I should be able to protect you." Lee's tone was soothing, trying to take the edge out of her voice. Unfortunately, his answer got the opposite effect.

Sakura pushed Lee away from her. "I don't need to be protected _Lee-kun_. Maybe I should be strong enough to protect others. Have you ever thought of that?"

"Sakura-chan, I…"

"Thank you for the lovely evening, Lee-kun. Good night." Turning, Sakura strode into her home.

The lights blinked out, and Lee stood in the street for a few moments looking hurt. Pained, he thought about what he had said, before turning and making his way to his apartment.

I don't know if Sakura's parents have names, so I made one up. If anyone knows if they have names, please let me know. Not the most interesting chapter, but setting the stage for what I hope to put in the next one or two. In any case, please review as always.

Merry Christmas, and various other holidays: Delais Starlight


	7. Chapter 7

Authors Notes 1) I don't own Naruto or its characters.

2) Please review this story, as it is the first one I have written, feedback would greatly help me improve.

3) _Constructive _criticism is perfectly fine, compliments are also nice.

4) Thank you to my friend Alex for his help.

Chapter 7

Lee stood in the street, facing Sakura's home, gifts in hand. He had followed Tenten's advice. Wait for a few days. Use it to think about what happened, and give her some time to cool off. And then, go talk to her. Bring presents. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he took a step towards the house, and stopped.

One more deep breath, and his footsteps resumed. By the time he reached the door, he had stopped shaking. Shifting the packages in his hands he rang the bell. The door opened to reveal Sakura's mother.

"Greetings, Haruno-sama," a quick bow. "Is Sakura-chan in? That is, I wish to talk to her. I mean, I would, may I please speak to your daughter ma'am?"

The elder Haruno female looked Lee over before smiling. "Ino is trying to convince her to take up gardening. Just head around to the back."

"Arigato, Haruno-sama"

Another small smile, this one accompanied by a shrug. "Good luck, Lee."

Making his way to the back of the house, he could hear Ino criticizing. "No, no, no. You'll never get anything to grow if you plant it like that, honestly, Sakura, is it really all that difficult?"

"Ino, hobbies are supposed to be relaxing. This is taking way too much effort. I won't always have the time to do this."

Lee could see both of them now. They were crouched over a patch of dirt, presumably trying to plant flowers. Sakura looked pretty frustrated at the moment.

Oh well, he wasn't going to run off now. Biting his lip, he called out with a small amount of trepidition; "Wouldn't it just be easier to use these, Sakura-chan?"

The two females looked up at the unexpected voice. Lee stood holding up a bouquet of flowers, an unsure smile on his face. Sakura stared at him surprised. At least she wasn't looking angry, that was a start. She leaned over and whispered something to Ino. The two of them launched into a brief discussion, not a word of which made its way to Lee's ears. His arm slowly fell back to his side, the grin wearing off of his face.

Ino stood and approached him. The look she gave him sent chills down his spine. As she reached him, he prepared himself for whatever she had to say. Ino did not say a word, simply walking past him, and disappearing around the side of the house. Lee glanced over his shoulder, almost expecting an attack. When none came, he let out a sigh, only then realizing that he had been holding his breath. He looked back to Sakura. She was walking towards several chairs set up on the lawn, and motioned for Lee to follow.

They sat facing each other. Sakura was the first to speak. "So why are you here, Lee?"

"Sakura-chan." He handed her the flowers, which she placed in her lap. "I wanted to apologize for what I did."

"Oh?"

"I thought about what I did - or rather, what I said - and I realized I was wrong."

"You realized that you don't need to protect me, then?"

"No, I do need to be able to protect you."

Sakura glared at him, and stood up, the flowers in her lap falling to the ground. She made no move to catch them. "Sakura-chan, wait," He grabbed her arm, trying to keep her from leaving. "Just let me finish, please." Sakura looked down at him for a moment before sitting down. Lee released her arm and took a moment to choose his words carefully before continuing. "I love you, Sakura-chan, and I need to be able to protect you, and anyone else that I care about. But you need to be able to as well. It was wrong of me to say that you shouldn't be training.

Sakura smiled, "So you don't have a problem with me training with Naruto and Hinata, then?"

Lee handed her the other package that he had been carrying, an excited look on his face. "Open that one."

Sakura took the present from him. It was small, and wrapped in plain brown paper. Whatever it was, it certainly was heavy. She opened it carefully, resisting the urge to just tear the paper off. Whatever this was, Lee was pretty excited about it, and his enthusiasm was contagious. The paper once removed, revealed a box. Opening it, she removed the contents, a set of ankle weights. Judging from the look on her face she wasn't sure if she should be happy with the present or not.

Lee, accurately reading the look on her face, offered an explanation. "I thought that since we were fighting because I didn't want you to train, that these would make a good present to apologize with. I took the weights out of the first set that Gai-sensei gave me for these." Sakura sat staring at them; she did not say a word. "I'm sorry if it's a bad idea, Sakura-chan."

She shook her head, bringing her thoughts back to the here and now. "No Lee-kun. It's very nice. It may not be a normal gift, but it has a lot of meaning behind it. I love it. Thank you."

He flashed a thumbs-up sign for a second before speaking, his grin rivaling one of Naruto's. "I was sure I had a good idea. Does this mean that you can forgive me?"

"Hai, Lee-kun."

"Yosh! Sakura-chan, let me take you out to dinner tonight. I promise to make sure we have a better time than we did on our last date!"

Sakura's face fell. "I can't, Lee-kun. I just became a last minute replacement for a mission. I leave tomorrow."

"Oh. What kind of mission is it, Sakura-chan?"

"I can't discuss it, Lee-kun. The papers were classified."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Lee-kun, I can't…"

Lee nodded. "I understand, Sakura-chan. I won't stay any longer." He rose, as did his girlfriend. Pulling her close, he pressed his lips against hers before releasing her. "Just stay safe, Sakura-chan." At that, he turned and began to walk away.

"Lee-kun!"

He turned and waited. It was clear she desired to say something, but was unsure of whether or not to do so. He remained silent, not wanting to influence her into making a choice she did not want to.

"Just… just don't get worried if I don't come back right away. Okay?"

"Hai."

One day passed, then two, and then three. After a week, Lee was starting to become anxious about Sakura, but reminded himself of what she had said. After the second week, he was worried. Forget what she had said, he knew something was wrong. By the twentieth day, he was barely even training. He mostly sat in his apartment, praying she would return.

His prayers were interrupted by a pounding at the door. As he realized that someone was knocking, it slowly registered in his brain that the sound had been going on for some time now. "Just open the door already, Thick-brows." Oh good. Naruto. He didn't have the energy to deal with him today.

He opened the door to find the blond with his hand swinging down to knock. Fortunately Naruto managed to check his swing. "Took you long enough. Now, hurry up, I don't wanna be late."

"Late for what, Naruto?"

"For what? For Tsunade's big presentation at the stadium. She announced it yesterday. No one has to attend, but the entire village is invited. It's supposed to be really special. So come on, I don't feel like attending alone."

"I'm sorry, Naruto, I don't really feel like going out. Why don't you go with Hinata?"

"Your girlfriend isn't the only one who gets missions, Thick-brows. Now let's go." Grabbing onto Lee's arm he dragged him along towards the stadium.

They arrived to find that it was packed. It seemed that almost everyone had turned out to see the event. Lee, upon scanning the crowd, commented to Naruto it would be surprising if they found anywhere to sit. Naruto turned to him with a grin. "Hey, I am the number one ninja at surprising people, remember?" With that he proceeded to lead Lee to the front row of seats, stopping in front of two people, themselves.

"Pretty good plan ne? I've had 'em here since last night."

Lee arched an eyebrow. It was a pretty good plan. "Kage bunshin?"

"Yep." Naruto snapped his fingers, and in a two puffs of smoke, the latecomers claimed some of the best seats in the house. Lee promptly went back to worrying, until the Hokage, accompanied by two people wearing the robes of sand jounin, strode to a podium set up at the center of the arena floor.

Tsunade adjusted the microphone and stepped back, clearing her throat. Moving back to the microphone, she began to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for attending. As some of you may already know, the Hidden Village of Sand appointed a new Kazekage just over a month ago. This assembly is to celebrate the ascension of the new leader of our allies." Polite clapping rang through the crowd, and the Hokage waited for it to die down before continuing.

"To show their continued commitment to our alliance, several jounin and I were invited to view their jounin exam this year." Her proclamation generated a gasp through the crowds. Chuunin exams were always held between all the villages, but jounin exams were secret. These tests showcased those hoping to become one of the elites of their village. It was not something that outsiders were meant to see.

Again, Tsunade held up her hands. "This was a one-time offer, designed to promote trust and show that we are still committed to one another. It shall not be a regular event. Now then, of the two hundred shinobi who take the exam, we were allowed to enter ten. And," she snapped her finger, and a table popped into view, along with three blue uniforms, "it is time to meet our new jounin." The cheer went on for close to five minutes before it finally died away.

Tsunade motioned to the sand-nin standing beside her. "These two gentlemen with me were examiners, and are here to officially present our new jounin with their robes. And so without any further delay, let us begin. Our first ninja came in third out of a graduating class of twenty with an astounding performance. Hyuuga Hinata!"

Lee winced at the noise. Sure, he was cheering, as was everyone else, but Naruto was managing to be louder than anyone. Hinata entered the arena through one of the fighters' gates, and made her way to the center. She accepted her uniform and looked out at the crowd. She wasn't used to having this much attention on her. She wanted to run and hide, but at the same time she wanted it to go on forever. The entire village was cheering. They were cheering for her. Raising a fist in acknowledgement, she closed her eyes for a moment and let the cheering wash over her before walking quickly back off the field.

"Second, finishing twelfth overall, with a performance most examiners agree was severely hindered by a lack of interest, Nara Shikamaru!" The crowd again went crazy, although this time the ninja just picked up his uniform and headed back to the gate, stifling a yawn along the way back.

"And finally, we have a ninja who was a last-minute addition when illness forced out one of our original choices." Lee's breath caught in his throat. "She may have finished eighteenth, but that's quite impressive when you realize she entered the last event against advice with a broken arm." Lee looked over to Naruto, who was yelling. "I knew she could do it! All I had to do to get her in was win a bet against O-baa-chan!"

Lee stood up. His hands clutched the railing and his mouth hung open in shock. He was too stunned to even register his actions. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered how he was moving when he was too surprised to tell his body what to do. His lips formed the name along with Tsunade, although no sound escaped from him.

"Haruno Sakura!"

This chapter is really late due to a combination of a horrendous flu (don't live in Canada), and the World Junior Hockey championships. Go Canada Go!

Thank you to Nonengel and Xoni Newcomer you two are responsible for over half of my reviews. You guys are pretty much the reason I keep writing this story, and I thank the both of you greatly. If anyone else would like to post a review, that would be really appreciated.

As always, until next time: Delais Starlight


	8. Chapter 8

Authors Notes 1) I don't own Naruto or its characters.

2) Please review this story, as it is the first one I have written, feedback would greatly help me improve.

3) _Constructive _criticism is perfectly fine, compliments are also nice.

4) Thank you to my friend Alex for his help.

Chapter 8

"Haruno Sakura"

The crowd roared its approval after the name was announced. Lee, however, remained silent. He didn't know what to do. He could hear his mind telling him to cheer. Sakura was a jounin now, this was her big moment. He should be happy for her, he should be crying out at the top of his voice, just as every other person there was doing. But looking down at her, he just could not find it in himself to cheer.

Sakura hopped slowly towards the podium. She was still wearing her chuunin vest over her combat jacket, although both were in terrible condition. Her left arm was in a sling, and her right arm was holding a crutch, and bandaged at the wrist. Reaching the center of the arena, she accepted her jounin uniform, draping it over her left arm. With an awkward bow, she turned and departed from the field.

Lee sat back down. In the arena, Tsunade was speaking again. She was saying something or other about thanking the examiners from the Sand village for coming to Konoha to present the jounin uniforms to the graduates, but it was all flying past him. He was far more interested in the buzz of the crowd.

"Did you see that? The Hyuuga girl came in third in the entire exam."

"… about the Haruno. Have you ever heard of someone entering a final stage with a broken bone?"

"I told you that the Nara kid would go far one day! You said he couldn't, but I...."

"I never said 'couldn't.' I said that if he stayed so lazy he wouldn't. And don't act so smart, I seem to remember you claiming that Konamaharu would be a candidate for ANBU by now."

Lee shook his head to clear his thoughts. Sakura had become a jounin, and so had Hinata and Shikamaru. He turned to his right, thinking perhaps that he should suggest to Naruto that they go congratulate the three of them. Naruto, he was surprised to find, was already nowhere to be seen. Sighing, Lee began to slide past people, moving himself towards the staircase. As he went, he admonished himself for being surprised by his companion's disappearance. After all, this was Naruto, possibly the only person in the village to possess more boundless energy and enthusiasm than he himself.

Lee raced through the halls, navigating the corridors by memory. Taking a final turn, he slowed to a stop in front of one of the doors. If he remembered correctly, this should be the door for the staging area that the three successful candidates had exited from. Opening the door, he stepped in.

Naruto was pulling Hinata, who was as red as a tomato, around the room in some sort of dance. He was carrying on excitedly as they went. "I told you Hinata-chan! Third place, you're probably one of the strongest girls in the village."

Hinata, for her part, merely grinned as her boyfriend dragged her about, wondering how he always managed to display such emotion in public without feeling embarrassment.

"Hai, Naruto-kun."

Shikamaru sat against a wall with Chouji, sharing a bag of potato chips, while Ino stood over him, tugging on his wrist, trying to get him to stand.

"Get up, will you, Shikamaru?"

"Why?"

"So that I can give you a hug to congratulate you. Now come on."

"Fine, fine." With that, the lazy ninja climbed to his feet muttering under his breath. "Troublesome."

Ino's face took on a look of hurt as she stepped away from him. "Troublesome? Well, if touching me is so horrible, then far be it from me to ruin your celebration, Shikamaru." With that, she turned and stormed past Lee, out the door.

"Damn it, this will be a real headache to fix." Rubbing one hand over his eyes, Shikamaru grimaced. He looked down at his friend, who was still eating his chips on the ground. "I don't know why you're in such a rush to become a jounin. I've had my uniform for less than five minutes, and already this promotion is more trouble than it's worth."

Chouji stopped eating, to look at his friend. "Have you ever considered it might be because of what you say sometimes?"

Eyes closed and head falling back, Shikamaru let out a sigh. "I know, I know. I better go try to apologize to her." Shikamaru passed by Lee, giving him a small nod as he went. Lee returned the gesture with a thumbs up and a nice guy smile.

"Do not fear, Shikamaru. Ino may be upset now, but you shall be able to win her back. Now go, to apologize for the error of your words. Our springtime of youth is too precious to be wasted fighting with those that we care for."

Shikamaru listened to Lee's impromptu motivational speech before heading off, mumbling something under his breath. The green-clad ninja paid no attention to his friend's antics, however, choosing to focus on the one he cared for instead.

Sakura stood on the other side of the room, shaking her head and smirking to herself. Lee rushed to her side, smiling as brightly as the day when Gai-sensei had first told him that he would learn primary lotus.

"Sakura-chan, I am so happy to see you again; I was worried."

With a shrug of her shoulders and a somewhat exasperated look, Sakura replied. "I told you not to worry, Lee-kun."

"That doesn't matter, Sakura-chan. I love you; of course I'm going to worry. I missed you."

"I missed you too, Lee-kun." Giving him a gentle hug with her good arm, Sakura planted a light kiss on Lee's lips.

"Hey, cut that out you two."

Sakura glared at the person who had made the comment. "Naruto!"

"Well, come on now, this really isn't an appropriate place. Besides that, I wouldn't want you to do anything too strenuous, Sakura-chan. No need to aggravate those injuries." Naruto threw back his head to laugh. He directed his attention to Lee. "Now come on, our girlfriends just made jounin; I think we need to take them out to celebrate. Am I right Thick-Brows?"

Lee nodded the affirmative. "Yes, I should think so, Naruto."

"His name is Lee, Naruto. And you know I wouldn't have done anything. Now let's get going."

They were the last to leave the room, Chouji having disappeared while they were talking. Sakura made a verbal jab of her own as they left. "You know, Naruto, the only reason I'm not going to kick your ass for those comments is that I'm injured."

"Ah, don't worry, Sakura-chan. There's always next time."

The entire village was celebrating. They might not have planned for a festival, but they were certainly putting one on in record time. The four friends, along with most of the village, were out to enjoy themselves. Sakura decided to leave first, wanting to get some rest and try to recover from her injuries. Lee walked her home, leaving Naruto and Hinata.

Naruto brought a hand to his mouth to hide a yawn. "Well, Hinata, maybe we should be getting some rest too, ne?"

His girlfriend began to press her index fingers together. "Um, Na… Naruto-kun."

"Yes?"

"Well, I… I was, I was able to, um…"

"What's wrong Hinata-chan?" There was a hint of worry in Naruto's voice. Hinata might still be a quiet person, but it had been a long time since she had lapsed so far back on her nervous habits around him.

Naruto could see doubt in Hinata's eyes. Then, with a gulp, she nodded to herself, her confidence seeming to grow. Forming Naruto's trademark seal, she brought a single kage bunshin into view. "I modified your technique."

Naruto examined the clone, puzzled. "What did you do? It doesn't look all that different to me."

"I just changed it a little. It costs extra chakra to do it, but I can make it show up as a real person if someone tries to look at it with byakugan.

Naruto was impressed at that statement. "No way! If you taught mehow to do that, Neji would never have a chance against me. I bet if I trained I could even beat your father." At that his expression changed to confusion. "But why not just tell me? What is the clone for."

"Well, since it's here, and I gave it enough chakra to last for the night if it just sleeps, I um…" She blushed, and began to press her index fingers together again, "I don't really need to go home tonight."

For the first time ever, Naruto turned a deeper shade of red than his girlfriend.

The old man waved to a passing ninja who was heading home from the revelry. "Excuse me sir, but can I have a moment of your time. I truly hate to bother you, but could you please help me move an old reclining chair out of my house into the back alley. It needs to be disposed of, and I'm afraid I'm just not what I used to be."

The shinobi considered it for a moment. He was slightly drunk, as well as tired. Still, it was a minor gesture, and the frail looking man would surely hurt himself should he try to move it alone. "Of course oji-san."

The old man showed him into the house. As he closed the door, Yakomo reflected that if he were Hokage, he would teach the ANBU to practice proper caution off-duty as well as on.

As always, a deep thank you to Xoni Newcomer and Nonengel for continuing to review for me. Thanks as well, to Witchfyre for posting a review. It's nice to see that people are reading this story.

If anyone is unhappy with the frequency of updates or the quality of work, I am sorry. This is my first story, and I never realized the importance of planning any sort of ending, or means of getting there. This is a mistake I intend to avoid in any future works I do. Also, I am still trying to find a writing style I am comfortable with.

Delais Starlight


	9. Chapter 9

Authors Notes 1) I don't own Naruto or its characters.

2) Please review this story, as it is the first one I have written; feedback would greatly help me improve.

3) _Constructive _criticism is perfectly fine, compliments are also nice.

4) Thank you to my friend Alex for his help.

Chapter 9

* * *

The gate guard nodded to Iroko as he headed out of the village. It was Saturday morning, and the sun barely beginning to show over the forest. The old man carried his fishing pole and a sack with his lunch. The old man raised a hand to the chuunin guard, and continued on his way.

Iroko carefully made his way down the path, taking pains to avoid rocks or tree roots that he might trip over. Reaching his usual spot at the pond, he sat down and cast his line. Settling down against a tree, he closed his eyes and waited.

Three Sound ninja appeared in front of the old man from the Leaf village. Calmly, he stood up, and closed his eyes. A moment later, he fell to the ground on his hands and knees. His fingers gouged into the earth as he struggled not to cry out. Hair grew, eye color changed, and the bones in his body repositioned themselves. Finally Yakomo stood back up to face his comrades, jerking his head to the side, cracking his neck. "Took you long enough."

"Yes, well, we are supposed to avoid detection you know. It's not entirely easy to move a strike force here without being noticed."

"But it is done?"

"Yes. All we need is for you to give the signal. Are you prepared?"

"Of course, I've had one of the ANBU guards possessed for over a week now. I know absolutely everything about their schedule with Sasuke-kun. I can easily get him out of his cell, and I'm more than capable of removing the restraining seals from him. All that will remain will be for your group to distract the defenders long enough for us to escape."

At this, the leader of the three ninja meeting with Yakomo shook is head. "Thirty ninja with a minimal chance of survival, just to retrieve the Uchiha boy. I cannot help but wonder if it is worth it."

Yakomo's face took on a hard look. He stared at the ninja who had spoken, waiting for him to look away. Only after the Sound team leader glanced to the side did he continue.

"Of course it is worth it. Sasuke-kun is one of the strongest ninja we have ever had, and we shall not let him go."

"But does that really make him worth so many of us?"

"Don't forget, Orochimaru-sama once planned to use Sasuke-kun's body as his new container. If something unexpected should happen to his current body, we may still need him. Now then, do you have any further questions?"

The leader of the three ninja meeting with Yakomo shook his head.

"Excellent." Yakomo smiled. Reaching into his jacket, he extracted a scroll and passed it to his companion. "Now then, study this and inform the others of their duties. Dismissed."

With a nod, the three ninja vanished into the trees. Yakomo gritted his teeth and prepared himself for the pain that always came with the transformation. When it was finished, he sat back down at the pond. It was early, after all; Iroko still had many hours of fishing ahead of him, and Yakomo had plenty of time to kill before.

Sakura sprinted forwards, the end of the course in sight. Leaping, she soared over an open pit, grabbing hold of an iron bar that was suspended horizontal over it. Flipping around the bar to build momentum, she launched herself forwards to land on the far side of the pit. Running a few last steps, she came to a stop in front of Tsunade, who clicked off her stopwatch.

"Congratulations, Sakura. Your performance on the obstacle course suggests you are more than capable of returning to active duty."

Hands on her hips, Sakura stood, gasping for breath, but still smiling. "So I am officially recovered, then?"

Tsunade began walking off the training field, motioning for the jounin to follow. She waited for Sakura to fall into step before answering. "Of course you're recovered. I just told you I'll be putting you back on active duty."

"Excellent. Maybe Lee will decide that I'm not made of glass, now that the legendary medic-nin has declared me fully healed."

The older woman looked at her subordinate. "He's become rather protective, has he?"

"Not so much as that. It's mostly his insistence to try and help me in every little thing I do. And of course, he feels compelled to bring his usual level of enthusiasm to everything."

Throwing back her head, Tsunade let out a laugh. "Yes, I suppose that could get annoying. But at least he's helping out, right?"

"Right." Sakura nodded her head, before allowing a smirk. "Perhaps I'll mention this to Ino next time she starts complaining about Shikamaru; she seems to have the opposite problem with him."

Reaching the streets, they began to thread their way through the market. Tsunade glanced over at a merchant's cart for a moment before continuing.

"He is a lazy one, isn't he? Did he tell you why he finally decided to try out for jounin?"

"He mentioned something about it. Apparently you told him that if he didn't pass the exam, you would just give him jounin assignments at chuunin pay."

"Yes, that sounds about right. You know, Sakura, the nice thing about being the Hokage is that more often than not I can just do what I want." Pausing for a moment, Tsunade switched to a different topic. "Tell me, Sakura…"

Several explosions from the western wall cut Tsunade off in mid-sentence. Alarms began to sound almost instantly, only to be silenced once more by further explosions on the wall.

"Damn it! What the hell is going on here? Come on Sakura, we're needed."

Taking off, they began to sprint towards the explosion. Tsunade took the lead, jumping onto a rooftop to avoid the villagers running about on the street. Followed closely by Sakura, she landed on the ground near where the walls had been breached, and grabbed the first chuunin she saw running past. "Report!"

The chuunin took a couple seconds, mouth opening and closing before he began to speak. "Hokage-sama, we were hit by a group of Sound-nin. They have at least twenty members, but likely it's more than that. They didn't even attack us on the wall, just hit the alarms and kept going. We're presently chasing them down; they have scattered throughout the village, and seem to be attacking people randomly. We have been unable to determine a target."

"I see." Tsunade shook her head, before looking at the Konoha ninja who were darting around. "Hinata!"

The pale eyed ninja came to a stop in front of the Hokage. "Hai?"

"Do you know where Naruto is right now?" The Hyuuga nodded the affirmative, and Tsunade continued. "You two get him, tell him that he is to report to ANBU headquarters and ensure that the Uchiha traitor is not rescued. It isn't like Orochimaru to throw troops away without a purpose. I want the two of you there to back him up."

Hinata gave a nod, and Sakura saluted before they were on their way. Once again traveling by rooftop, Hinata led the way towards the area Naruto had pursued his targets, using her byakugan to scout for him. An enemy ninja moved to intercept them from the left. Hinata formed a seal and sent three kage bunshins to intercept. Sakura raised an eyebrow; she would defiantly need to learn that skill at some point.

They touched down in front of Naruto. His breath was coming faster than usual, and his face and sleeve were soaked in blood.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Calm down, Hinata, I'm fine."

'But… but, you're…" She gestured to his arm, her face pale.

"It isn't mine; I ended up catching an entire sound team. What's going on?"

"We've been ordered to head to the Hokage tower to ensure that Sasuke isn't going anywhere."

Naruto's clenched and unclenched his fists. "Sasuke." Wiping his face on his sleeve, he nodded. "Let's go."

The three of them took off through the streets, heading for the tower. When they reached it, they found the guards lying on the ground. Sakura took the lead, heading towards Sasuke's cell. Reaching it Naruto let out a curse; it was empty.

"Damn it all. How the hell did that traitor get out of here? Shit, this was all a cover to rescue him, I'll bet.

The veins in Hinata's face were bulging, her byakugan active. Slowly, she turned her head from side to side, ensuring that the escaped ninja was not in her blind spot. She paused, staring in a single direction. "He's just reached the edge of the village. There is one other ninja with him. The speed they are moving at suggests that he has access to his chakra."

"Let's go; we were told to keep Sasuke in here, and that's exactly what we're going to do." Naruto paused, looking at Sakura. "Sakura-chan, are you going to be able to do this?"

Sakura struggled to keep her face straight. She was not the same person she had been before. She did not have the same feelings for Sasuke that she did before. "I'll be fine. Now let's get going."

The next chapter will be up in a couple of days. Since I am almost finished, I find myself endeavoring to complete the story. Delais Starlight


	10. Chapter 10

Authors Notes 1) I don't own Naruto or its characters.

2) Please review this story, as it is the first one I have written; feedback would greatly help me improve.

3) _Constructive _criticism is perfectly fine, compliments are also nice.

4) Thank you to my friend Alex for his help.

Chapter 10

"We're being followed."

Hinata's statement was unexpected, interrupting the path the conversation had been taking. The three ninja had been traveling for some time already, discussing how they should go about battling their targets. Hinata led them, using her byakugan to keep on the trail of Sasuke and Yakomo. Occasionally, as she had just done, she would turn her head to one side for a few seconds, allowing her to take a quick look behind them. While it was slowly consuming chakra, it was proving to be worth its while.

Sakura nodded, as did Naruto. The blond ninja was the first to question Hinata.

"How many?"

"Just Lee, I think. I'm not positive, but it does look like he's alone."

Sakura's brow creased. "Lee, as in my boyfriend Lee?"

"Hai."

"Damn it. I do not want to spend another month in the hospital waiting for him to wake up again."

"Oi, come down, Sakura-chan." Naruto did his best to reassure her. Sasuke was a tough opponent, and he didn't want anyone's minds to be distracted when they tried to deal with him. "Lee can handle himself. He's been a jounin longer than you or Hinata, right? And besides, I know how both he and Sasuke fight. He may not be able to win in an extended battle, but his speed will give him the edge initially. He might just give us enough power to make this a quick fight." He turned to regard the other ninja of the group. "How long until he reaches us, Hinata-chan?"

Again her head turned to the side for a few seconds, as she judged Lee's speed. "About two minutes, Naruto-kun. We probably won't catch Sasuke for another eight or ten."

"Two minutes only? Damn, Thick-Brows is really moving today."

"That's Lee, Naruto." As was often the case, Sakura scowled at Naruto.

As was also often the case, Naruto merely smiled back at Sakura, shaking his head. "Works every time."

Hinata grinned at Naruto's antics before responding to his statement. "He is moving rather fast. I'm not sure, but it looks like he has discarded his training weights already.

Naruto nodded at that. "I guess this counts as protecting many people important to him. Hey, wait a minute." He put on a look of mock consideration before continuing. "He keeps those leg weights covered up. So you would have had to look through the material to check that." Once again, his facial expression shifted, this time to one of worry, although it was easy to see he was struggling to keep from laughing. "Is that all you looked at, Hinata-chan? Or should Sakura-chan and I here be getting jealous?"

"Naruto-kun!"

"Naruto, you pig!"

Putting on a quick burst of speed, Naruto moved ahead the other two. Turning to face them, he rolled his eyes. "Really, you two need to lighten up. It's good to joke around a bit on missions. Helps to relieve any tension that's building up, and- waaah!" Spinning back, he fought to regain his balance. Apparently, leaping backwards through trees was yet another one of his 'great' ideas that turned out to not actually be so great.

Sakura looked at her companion, giving him a condescending look. "Really, Naruto, try not to kill yourself before the fight. We are going to need your help against Sasuke." Her face then changed to her sweetest smile. "Although, with all your funny comments, I might finish you off if Sasuke doesn't."

"Hmph. Can you believe the hostility I'm getting over here, Hinata-chan?"

"Yes."

Sakura and Hinata both smiled as Naruto grumbled. "Bah, you women are all against me."

The group continued in silence until Lee caught up to them. He nodded to his teammates, taking a place at the rear of the group.

"Glad you could make it, Thick-Brows." Sakura grimaced but said nothing.

"Ah Naruto, I am not about to let my precious people engage on such a mission without me when I could easily accompany them." The green-clad ninja gave his trademark "thumbs-up" before once more focusing ahead of them.

"The Sound ninja that was traveling with Sasuke has stopped. Sasuke is continuing on his own. They must know they are being pursued."

Sakura's brow furrowed. "Is he summoning anything?"

"No, he remains alone. We will be making contact with him in a moment." The group dropped down onto the forest floor. They were in a small clearing, Yakomo standing on the other side. The Leaf ninja stared at him for several moments before Naruto spoke. "Get the hell out of our way."

Yakomo smiled. "I don't think so. It occurs to me that I may want to stop you. I certainly wouldn't want you bothering Orochimaru-sama's precious Sasuke-kun. Looks like he's going to get away." Locking eyes with his opponent, he continued. "I guess you're just not very good at keeping your promises, Naruto."

"Bastard!" Naruto charged the Sound ninja, kunai in hand. Yakomo waited for the last moment, before simply sidestepping. Again Naruto charged, and again his opponent simply twisted out of the way. Yakomo grinned, taunting his opponent. "Orochimaru-sama had me read the reports on you, Leaf ninja. He claimed that you were one of the ones I should be most worried about fighting. So far I'd have to agree with Sasuke-kun, however. You are weak, and stupid."

Naruto didn't even bother to respond, merely forming a seal he had been using since his first days as a genin. "Kage-bunshin no jutsu!" Twenty clones spread out from Naruto, surrounding the Sound ninja. "Try that again." As the Naruto's charged in, Yakomo began to form seals of his own. As Naruto and his clones reached a distance of about five meters from Yakomo, they began to waver. Some clutched at their heads, others their stomachs. They vanished in puffs of smoke, leaving only the real Naruto. Yakomo charged in at the disoriented ninja, again forming hand seals. As he finished the seals he dropped down. Bracing himself off his left hand, he attempted to a sweep Naruto's legs out from beneath him. The Leaf ninja did his best to dodge out of the way, but Yakomo's genjutsu had left his reflexes skewed. The kick connected, sending Naruto crashing to the ground. Not giving him a moment to recover, Yakomo sprang to his feet, slamming his right palm into Naruto's stomach, palm open.

Naruto felt even more disoriented than before. His vision was now going fuzzy. He could barely see the Sound ninja standing above him. Staggering back up, he struggled to remain standing. Whatever this genjutsu was, it was certainly taking a toll on him. He could barely even think, but somewhere in the back of his mind, his voice was telling him that he had felt something like this before. Forming his hands into his trademark seal, he attempted to bring forth an army of shadow clones. But instead he screamed.

His head was cleared of its disorientation; the pain he now felt was coming through loud and clear. It felt as though his entire body was burning, fire running through his veins. The pain grew even worse, centering on the seal in his stomach. He fell onto his hands and knees, throwing up. He glared at the enemy ninja standing in front of him. "What the hell did you do to me?"

Shaking his head, Yakomo smiled. "Just so you know, I happen to be one of the best users of seals in the entire Sound village. And since you seem to have a very powerful seal on you, I took the liberty of modifying it. It is now impossible for you to access any chakra through it. And since your chakra system is tied into that seal, I guess that means you're completely powerless."

Naruto had climbed back to his feet and was looking outraged. "You aren't the first person to think they had me helpless. And every one of them has ended up surprised. Rasengan!" Holding out his hand, he attempted to bring forth the ninjutsu he had learned from Jiraiya. Once more, he fell back to his knees. Yakomo choose that moment to charge him, and Naruto, unable to call upon his chakra, found himself unable to dodge the incoming blow.

Naruto slammed into a tree and crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Hinata was by his side in a second.

Lee stepped forwards, fire in his eyes. "You shall pay for daring to harm one of my friends. The righteous fire of youth shall strike you down!"

"Lee, stop." The anger in the voice halted the taijutsu specialist in his tracks. Hyuga Hinata stepped past him. When she spoke, her voice was cold. "You and Sakura need to catch Sasuke." Activating her byakugan, she stared evenly. "I want this one."

Glancing at one another, Sakura and Lee nodded to one another before taking off. Yakomo moved to intercept them, only to find Hinata blocking his path.

Dropping into the Hyuga gentle fist stance, she forced him to come to a halt. "As I stated, your fight is with me."

Throwing back his head, the Sound ninja laughed. "And so, Hyuga Hinata plans to oppose me? To avenge her boyfriend, perhaps?" He shook his head. "I know what you are capable of, girl; you don't stand a chance."

Hinata's eyes narrowed with determination. She did not even bother to respond to the Sound ninja's insults when she spoke. "You are within the realm of my divination."

As she began to move into the Hyuga sixty-four points of tenketsu stance, Yakomo leapt back. He threw a kunai at Hinata, intending on keeping her away from him; he knew that he didn't want to enter close combat with her. Using a small lightning jutsu, he forced Hinata, who was again trying to close the distance between them, to fall back. Mind racing, he tried to figure out some sort of plan. Pulling out another kunai, he again attempted to force his opponent back. However this time, rather than leaping back, Hinata, rolled under the flying weapon, sending a kunai of her own back.

Yakomo had not expected his kunai to hit, but he had expected Hinata to jump over it, or leap to the side. He had thought she may try to respond with an attack of her own, but not from such a position. Caught off guard by the unorthodox maneuver, Yakomo felt the weapon sink into the flesh just above his knee. The pain slowed his movements momentarily, allowing Hinata to close the distance between them. Her hands moved in rapid succession, striking her opponent's tenketsu points.

Fighting through the pain, Yakomo managed to turn one of her strikes, turning it aside with his forearm. With his other arm, he delivered a blow to Hinata's chest, knocking the wind out of her. Dropping a smoke grenade, he retreated, leaping onto a low branch of one of the trees. He muttered a curse to him to himself as he attempted to gather his breath. _Damn that stupid bitch_, he thought. He didn't want to have to fall back to the curse seal. He had prided himself on being stronger than the previous elite of the Sound village, doing his best to defeat his opponents without relying on the power granted by Orochimaru. Still, better to let his pride suffer than to be defeated here. Drawing on the curse seal was difficult with some of his tenketsu sealed, but he was used to pain. This was far less than he was used to experiencing when he transformed his body.

Hinata stumbled out of the smoke cloud, coughing. Her byakugan may have allowed her to see through the smoke, but it did nothing to prevent her from breathing it. Her coughing subsided as she breathed in good air. Straightening out, she gazed up at her opponent, and warned herself that this was about to become a harder fight.

Black lines were snaking across the body of the Sound ninja. They wove their way up and down, stopping after they crossed his entire body. He grinned, feeling the power of the curse seal flowing through him. Forming hand seals, he calmly reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a handful of shuriken. Releasing them, they remained floating in the air, held in place by chakra. Removing more and more weapons from his pouch, he began throwing them into the air. Manipulating his chakra, he guided them into the air, forming a circle around her. Forming a final seal, Yakomo slashed downwards with his hand.

Hinata was surrounded by the incoming projectiles. With no exits open she had one chance. "Kaiten!" The spin deflected all of the incoming weapons. As Hinata came to a stop, she quickly glanced at Naruto, and breathed a sigh of relief; none of the deflected weapons had struck him. Yakomo was again forming the same hand signals. Hinata noticed that the weapons she had deflected away were still glowing with chakra. As Yakomo completed the seals, they again began to rise into the air. With the gesture of his hand, they once more flew towards Hinata. With no other choice, she once again began the kaiten, praying none of the weapons would strike the unconscious Naruto.

As she spun, Yakomo pulled out four kunai, and began wrapping them. As Hinata's spin was ending, Yakomo tossed his last four kunai, aiming not for her, but for the tree against which Naruto was leaning. The four of them all sunk into the tree, right beside his head. The Sound ninja smiled. It wouldn't have done to hit the helpless ninja. This way he made much better bait. He laughed, seeing Hinata's eyes widen, and watched her sprint towards Naruto. She had seen the explosive tags wrapped around the handle of each kunai.

Hinata grabbed Naruto as the tags started to glow. Leaping away, she rolled in the air, using her body to shield Naruto from the explosion. The blast sent shards of wood flying into Hinata, while the shockwave threw them tumbling farther through the air, into the trees, obscuring them from Yakomo's view. Hinata staggered to her feet, trying to form a hand seal. That explosion had inflicted far too much damage; she needed to end this fight as quickly as possible.

Yakomo jumped to the ground and took a battle stance, waiting. He could hear someone slowly moving towards him. As Hinata stumbled into view, he allowed himself to relax. She was clutching her side, barely standing. In that condition, she had no chance.

A noise at his side alerted him; turning to his side, he saw Hinata charging straight for him. He jumped away, but was immediately struck in the back. Falling to the ground, he saw yet another Hinata land beside him. He glanced around; counting the first one he had seen, there were now six versions of Hinata surrounding him. He shuddered as they all fell into the same stance.

"You are within the realm of _our_ divination." All six of the blue haired ninja spoke in unison. "One hundred and twenty-eight points of tenketsu!" They struck as one, leaving the Sound ninja collapsed on the ground. Pulling a kunai out of the dirt, Hinata slammed it into Yakomo's chest.

Three of her clones disappeared. The last two helped her walk back to where she had left Naruto. They helped he rest against a tree, before propping Naruto beside her. The last two clones disappeared, no longer needed. Hinata sighed, "I hope Lee and Sakura can defeat Sasuke alone, Naruto-kun."

Sakura and Lee soared through the trees heading in the direction of Sasuke. Lee was running the fight between Naruto and Yakomo in his mind.

"Sakura-chan?"

"What is it, Lee-kun?"

"What did that Sound ninja do to Naruto?"

Sakura sighed; this was a distraction that would be better left until later. "Lee-kun, it is rather complicated. I promise Naruto will be fine, but can we leave it until later?"

"You do not trust me?" Lee's voice had a slightly pained sound to it.

"It's not that, Lee-kun, but it is a long discussion, one which we should not have well pursuing Sasu - down!"

Taking his cue, Lee dove off of the branch he just landed on a second behind Sakura. Above them, what looked to be twenty kunai embedded themselves into the branch that they had just been standing on. Touching down on a lower branch, Sakura began scanning the surrounding trees looking for their opponent. Lee landed, and immediately leapt forwards, grabbing Sakura around the waist.

"Keep moving!"

As she was pulled along, Sakura saw the branch they had touched down on detonate. Sasuke must have placed explosive tags on the branch. He had always been good at placing traps, she recalled.

Sasuke came from above, slamming a fist into Lee, sending both him and Sakura crashing down to the forest floor. Hitting the ground, they both immediately rolled to their feet.

"Sakura-chan! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Lee-kun, what about you?"

"I'll be alright; where is he?"

As Sakura dodged a shuriken aimed at her head, Sasuke landed on the ground between them. Lee was forced backwards by a kick, but rather than continuing to press him, Sasuke whirled around, delivering a knee into Sakura's stomach. As she doubled over, Sasuke dropped to the ground. Pushing off from his arms, he delivered a kick that connected solidly on Sakura's chin.

As Sakura went tumbling through the dirt, he again shifted his attention. Lee was rushing towards him, and Sasuke returned the charge.

"Spinning whirlwind kick!" Lee opened the fight, throwing a kick at Sasuke's head. Sasuke raised his forearm to block before countering, throwing a punch at Lee in return. The two began trading blows.

Sasuke staggered back, and Lee pressed the advantage. One strike after another, Sasuke was slowly pushed back until he was pressed against a tree. Lee grabbed onto Sasuke's shirt, holding him in place. Drawing his other fist back, he aimed for Sasuke's head, planning on knocking him out in a single blow.

His fist connected with the tree trunk, Sasuke having jerked his head out of the way at the last moment. Knocking Lee's fist away, he jumped onto the lowest branch of the tree. Forming hand seals, he sucked in his breath, before spitting a fireball at Lee. The green-clad ninja dodged, but Sasuke sent another fireball at his head. Every time Lee managed to evade the attack, Sasuke would send another at him.

A barrage of kunai forced Sasuke to break off his attack. He glared at Sakura, sharingan activated. The pink-haired ninja matched his glare, refusing to be intimidated. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, drawing his attention back to Lee a second before the incoming blow sent him tumbling from his perch. The air around Lee began to shimmer as his power built. This was his one advantage over Sasuke, and he intended to use it now, before Sasuke's jutsu wore him down.

"Sakura-chan, run!" As Lee shouted to her, he propelled himself towards Sasuke, moving so fast he seemed to vanish. As he fell, he opened the second gate. There was no time to wait; below him, Sasuke's body was being covered by the semi-circular marks indicating that he had activated his cursed seal. He needed to take him out and it had to be right now.

His fist connected with the ground as Sasuke rolled to the side, avoiding the blow. Sasuke swept his legs out, attempting to trip Lee, who managed to avoid the attack with a back flip. Touching down, Lee crossed his arms in front of his face and opened his third chakra gate. "Primary Lotus!"

Racing forwards, he brought his knee into the still rising Sasuke. Sasuke did his best to roll with the blow, coming up to his feet at the end of his tumble. Lee continued his attack however, refusing to let the former Leaf ninja take the initiative. With a shot to the ribs he sent Sasuke back into a tree.

As he raced forwards, Lee felt his excitement building. He could feel his body starting to pull itself apart, muscles straining against the power, but it did not matter. He was winning, he could actually win this. His excitement, along with adrenaline and power flowing through him, easily allowed him to ignore the pain beginning to register through his body. His punch sent Sasuke back through the tree he had been standing against. He watched in satisfaction as Sasuke staggered to his feet, blood flowing from various wounds. The look he gave Lee was a mixture of hatred and disbelief; there was no way a failure like Lee should be able to do this much damage to him. When he spoke, Lee could feel the killing intent radiating from him.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance, you stupid bastard."

Rather than the attack one would expect to come after such a proclamation, Sasuke instead turned and ran. Opening up two more gates, Lee took off after Sasuke, the two of them rapidly vanishing from Sakura's line of sight.

Lee pursued Sasuke, coming closer and closer to the Sound ninja. Moments before he caught Sasuke, scaled wings sprouted from Sasuke's back. Sasuke turned, moving quicker than Lee had even seen anyone move. Grabbing the collar of Lee's jumpsuit, Sasuke threw him over his shoulder, sending the Konoha ninja crashing down to the ground.

Even before Lee made contact with the earth, Sasuke's first blow fell, striking Lee's kidneys. The situation was now reversed, with Sasuke on the offensive, not giving Lee time to respond. On the ground, Lee was unable to stop Sasuke's assault. He blocked barely one attack out of every three, doing all that he could to just stay on his feet. Finally, unable to stand any longer, he crashed to the ground.

Sasuke stood over him, a look of superiority on his face. Reaching down, he picked Lee up, dragging him towards a tree. Lee tried in vain to hit Sasuke while he was unguarded, but it was no use. The damage his body had taken - both from Sasuke, and from his use of Lotus - was simply too great. Sasuke pulled Lee up by one arm, holding it above Lee's head so that he was standing on his feet, and withdrew a kunai from his belt. Lee's face contorted anew into an expression of unimaginable pain as Sasuke shoved the kunai through his hand, burying it in the tree. Lee's legs collapsed, too weak to support him; his feet barely touching the ground, he hung, pinned upright by the kunai in his hand.

From twenty paces away, Sasuke turned back to face Lee. "I'm not making the same mistake that I did last time around. I'll finish you off quick. Don't worry; since I'm in a bit of a rush, I won't go chasing after your precious _Sakura-chan._ She can cry at your funeral. Maybe she'll even leave some flowers for you after they carve your name onto the memorial stone. Of course, we'll never know, since I'll be gone and you'll be dead. Was it worth it, Lee?"

The semi-conscious ninja managed to raise his head, meeting his taunter's eyes. "Go… to hell… Sasuke."

The Sound ninja shrugged, the motion carried out not only by his shoulders, but by his wings as well. He answered casually, his indifference to his suffering opponent lending to his demonic appearance. "You first."

Facing his right palm to the earth, he braced it with his other arm and began to power up. A flash of pink interrupted him in the middle of his charge and he paused, taking a relaxed stance. Sakura stood in front of Lee, kunai in hand.

"Sakura-chan...get…"

"Quiet, Lee-kun." Her voice was firm, carrying no room for argument. "I'm not leaving you behind this time."

Sasuke shook his head, a look of amusement on his face. As he spoke, he dropped out of both stages of cursed seal, his eyes reverting to normal as his sharingan deactivated as well. "Sakura-chan. You should have run when you had the chance."

"Should I have? It seems you're running out of power."

"Oh, I could have kept going for a couple more minutes, but it's not like I need it for a weakling like you."

"Sakura-chan." Lee's weak voice drew her attention once more. "Please… just go."

"I'd listen to him, Sakura." Sasuke looked smug. "Just get out of here and leave him to me. No one else will have to know."

Indecision flashed over Sakura's face. She glanced back towards Lee, and then back to Sasuke. He waited calmly, holding her gaze to his. Then, after close to ten seconds, she looked away, and turning, retreated, leaving the other two ninja alone.

Sasuke's eyes flashed back into sharingan mode as he again began to power up a chidori. It burst forth, its distinctive chirping bouncing off of the trees. Sasuke drew his arm back and observed Lee, who was struggling to hold his head high enough to watch his death. "You know, she took on Gaara for me." At that, Sasuke charged, focused on Lee and the killing blow.

He caught Sakura re-entering the fight out of the corner of his eye. His eyes widened; he had actually believed that she was gone, that bitch. His sharingan showed him Sakura's intent, but it was too late to dodge. He thrust his arm to the side, aiming to finish off the interfering kunoichi.

Sakura twisted in mid-air, trying to dodge the strike. The chidori grazed her chest, leaving a large gouge traveling down her side. At the same time, her arm flashed forward, her kunai slashing across Sasuke's face, scoring both of his eyes. She crashed to the ground, her hands at her side, attempting to stem the flow of blood. Sasuke clutched at his eyes with both of his hands, blood seeping from between his hands as well. Sakura released her hands from the wound and began to form seals; the blood almost seeming to pour out of her side after she released the pressure she had been placing on the wound. She grabbed both of her hands on Sasuke's ankle as he stumbled, and his body stiffened as a shock ran through it. He crashed to the ground beside her, dead or unconscious, she could not tell.

"Sakura-chan." Her hands once more clutched weakly to her side, Sakura strained to turn her head and face Lee.

"Hai?"

"You should have kept running."

"That wasn't part of the plan." A small smile flickered across her lips, as she struggled to stay conscious. "You know… It feels nice to be the one who saves somebody for once, Lee-kun." Her breath came in ragged gasps. "We'll make quite a pair when they find us. I hope…" Her eyes slowly closed, before struggling to re-open. She stifled a cough, and turning her head, spit a stream of blood out onto the ground. "Just in case someone doesn't get here soon, Lee-kun: I don't regret this." Her eyes closed once more; although this time, they did not re-open.

Well one chapter left, just the quick epilogue. And following that, feel free to yell at me, praise me, or tell me if you like any of my ideas for the next story I write.


	11. Epilogue

Authors Notes 1) I don't own Naruto or its characters.

2) Please review this story, as it is the first one I have written, feedback would greatly help me improve.

3) _Constructive _criticism is perfectly fine, compliments are also nice.

4) Thank you to my friend Alex for his help.

Epilogue

Tsunade stood at the edge of the training ground, watching the four ninja. Naruto was sitting with Hinata, cycling through hand seals. His girlfriend was nodding, forming the hand seals, trying to commit them to memory. A small spark of lightning struck Naruto, knocking him off his feet. Immediately, Hinata dropped to his side, helping Naruto to sit up. The blond youth was rubbing his chest and laughing.

Shaking her head, the Hokage directed her attention to the other side of the field. Sakura was walking tentatively. Lee remained by her side, ready to grab hold of her at any moment. Reaching out, Sakura grabbed onto Lee's shoulder, leaning on him to support herself.

Tsunade moved over to where Sakura and Lee were standing, no sense in making the injured shinobi walk over to the healthy one. Both jounin attempted to stand at attention as they saw the Hokage approach. Tsunade shook her head, and waved her hand dismissively.

"Sakura; Lee." Tsunade nodded to both as she addressed them.

They responded in unison. "Hokage-sama."

"I see you are doing better, Sakura. I would remind you, however, to be very careful. I would not want you to re-aggravate your wounds."

"The same goes for you Lee." No sense in warning one and not the other. Especially considering who the other one was. "I cannot stress how lucky you were not to sustain more severe injuries. Performing primary lotus against a cursed seal is one of the most dangerous ideas I can imagine."

"Hey, Obaa-chan! What are you doing here?"

Tsunade ground her teeth as Naruto hurried across the field, Hinata close behind. Sakura and Lee could hear her muttering quietly to herself.

"If I killed him, Hinata would be upset. It would be wrong to upset Hinata right after she completed such an important mission." The Hokage nodded to herself, as if confirming she had a reason to keep Naruto alive. She still cracked her knuckles as he approached, however.

"Well, what's going on?" The blond-haired ninja was as persistent as ever. "Was there something you wanted to tell us, or is this visit just for Thick-Brows and Sakura-chan?"

A hand on her shoulder calmed her before Sakura had the chance to explode. Lee grinned as he spoke. "Now, now, Sakura-chan, it's alright to call me by a nickname. Isn't that right Fox-Face?"

In what was truly a rare occasion, Naruto had no ready response. As the others laughed at him, he took a moment to sulk. "Last time I ever explain anything to you."

Tsunade cleared her throat, drawing the attention of the others back towards her. "I came to see how you all were. As Sakura and Lee are recovering from their wounds, I should also like to congratulate you all on preventing Sasuke from escaping."

"What are we going to do with him?" Hinata glanced to the ground for a moment before once more looking straight at Tsunade.

"We'll keep him around. Who knows if he may ever come in handy?" She nodded to Sakura approvingly. "After all, it's not like he can see where he is going any longer. That ought to cut down the chances of any future escapes."

"That's about all that I wanted. Go out for dinner tonight. Wherever it is, just bill the Hokage's office. We'll call it one more well,deserved reward from the village."

"Hey, thanks, Obaa-chan!"

Sakura slapped Naruto on the back of the head. "I don't care what Lee-kun said, Naruto. It's rude not to use a person's proper name. Now apologize to Tsunade-sama."

"All right, fine. I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama. Happy?"

Slowly nodding, Sakura grinned. "I certainly am, Fox-Face."

Tsunade shook her head and shrugged. They were the future.

And so ends my story. The last bit was probably a little weak, but hopefully future works will be better. I want to thank everyone who reviewed. Your advice was most helpful, and I shall endeavor to utilize it in any further works I do.

Speaking of which, please tell me if either of these interest you: a Naruto/Hinata story that takes place even further into the future (unrelated to this story); or, also, a crossover with tossing an Ultimate X-Men character or two (not Cyclops or Jean Grey) into the Naruto world. I think it could be fun, although I have no idea who I would focus on from either storyline.

Also, since I am looking for small challenges, if anyone wants, I may do a couple of one-shot requests (not yaoi). I can't promise anything, but I will try my best.

Thank you to everyone who read, and who reviewed. I hope I amused you, and can continue to do so. Delais Starlight


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